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Parksville street market exploding in popularity

Craig St. is often crammed on Tuesday nights in the summer with people browsing 180 vendors.Parksville and District Chamber of Commerce

PARKSVILLE — A massive street market in Parksville regarded as one of the best in B.C. has returned for a 14th year.

The weekly Summer by the Sea Street Market debuted on June 13 and runs every Tuesday night from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. through the end of August on downtown Parksville's Craig St.

Parksvile and District Chamber of Commerce executive director and city councillor Kim Burden said the 180 vendor market featuring crafts, art, produce, baked goods and food trucks is positive on many levels.

“It's an opportunity for us to extend the tourist activity, introduce different businesses to local residents and tourists alike and show different people to our downtown,” Burden told NanaimoNewsNOW.

He said the market, which can attract up to 3,500 people a night in the peak tourist season, has proven to be an effective breeding ground for many entrepreneurs.

“We've got folks that have started in the street market are now in bricks and mortar locations where they have expanded their business to 12 months a year."

While Burden said there had been talk of expanding beyond their current footprint of Craig St. and portions of Hurst and Middleton Ave., he doesn't think that will happen.

“If we go too much bigger we think we might be extending beyond what we can attract in terms of purchasers and we don't want to go there.”

Burden said all of the Summer by the Sea Street Market vendors are Vancouver Island based.